Comic Illustrations
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The precursor to comic books, cartoons have been popular in England and America since the early 1800s, originating as satirical and political cartoons printed in newspapers and periodicals. Through a natural evolution, cartoons developed into comic books, first through publications containing compilations of cartoon re-prints, then as books with original cartoon artwork, before reaching critical mass through the creation of superheroes in 1938.
Golden Age of Comics 1938-1956 During this era popular superheros that are still iconic today debuted. The Golden Age of Comic Books began in June 1938 with the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1. Batman premiered less than a year later in Detective Comics #27.The period from 1938 through the mid-1940s represents the peak of comic book popularity. Whereas current monthly sales of popular comic book titles hover around 100,000 copies, in the early 1940s Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel titles each regularly sold in the range of 1.5 million copies per month. From this important mile stone comic books have grown in popularity gathering a large following. They have morphed into both great works of literature and art. 
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Jack Kirby
One of the most notable and revolutionary illustrators of the industry was Jack Kriby. "They call him King for a reason! Jack Kirby is one of the most noteworthy names in the history of comics. He was also a born and bred New Yorker!" https://www.newyorktour1.com/blog/untold-nyc-history-comic-book-legend-jack-kirby/ Jack grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is an area that has changed vastly since the 1940s. As the son of Austrian immigrants, Kirby had to work very hard to achieve his life goals. He began drawing as a way to escape the neighborhood where he lived. Jack in conjunction with Stan Lee were responsible for alot of iconic characters and stories such as the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the original X-Men, Doctor Doom, Uatu the Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther. Jack was an amazing artist. His arwaork brought the stories to life and helped make these characters household names. Jack employed some basic Technics that helped his artwork stand out. Dynamic Compositions - When a composition has many diagonal lines it is called Dynamic Composition. The images are tilted not left just standing straight upward. The dynamism or excitement comes from the fact the diagonals are somewhat unsettling . The point pf view also leads to dynamic compositions. Where the artists is setting the vantage point IE is it from above like an areal view or from bellow. Action poses- depicting a character in the midst of a movement ie swinging a bat etc. This helps give visual interest. Storytelling- adding imagery or visual clues to tell a story or point of view. Foreshortening - Foreshortening is a technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding strongly into the distance or background. The illusion is created by the object appearing shorter than it is in reality, making it seem compressed. For example if a figure is drawn with a hand raised up in front of its face. The hand will appear or be drawn Larger than the face with in reality is untrue but if it is closer it APPEARS larger. |
Graphic Novel Illustrations
Project Assignment
Step one:
Find a photo with a person that demonstrate foreshortening or a dynamic/ action pose. Paste into Photoshop and position the image so that it has a Dynamic Composition. Add at at least two more imagery pieces creates a story. Ie was its character's power or are they busting through something.
Step two
Bring artwork of illustrator and trace the outlines and "shadow shapes". Color in using the live paint option
Step three
Copy and paste two versions back to Photoshop and used "halftone" filter to add a benday dot effect and a comic book styling.
Step one:
Find a photo with a person that demonstrate foreshortening or a dynamic/ action pose. Paste into Photoshop and position the image so that it has a Dynamic Composition. Add at at least two more imagery pieces creates a story. Ie was its character's power or are they busting through something.
Step two
Bring artwork of illustrator and trace the outlines and "shadow shapes". Color in using the live paint option
Step three
Copy and paste two versions back to Photoshop and used "halftone" filter to add a benday dot effect and a comic book styling.
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assignmentIn this lesson, students will use the characteristics of Jack Kirby's illustration and employ them in their own Comic illustrations.
Assignment requirements
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Tutorial |
Skill Three |
